{"id":4264,"date":"2024-02-23T11:41:38","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T11:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thinking.is.ed.ac.uk\/melissa\/?p=4264"},"modified":"2024-02-24T17:10:22","modified_gmt":"2024-02-24T17:10:22","slug":"flora-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinking.is.ed.ac.uk\/melissa\/2024\/02\/23\/flora-project\/","title":{"rendered":"FLORA Project"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_4289\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4289\" style=\"width: 251px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thinking.is.ed.ac.uk\/melissa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/02\/402px-Flora_Stevenson.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4289 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/thinking.is.ed.ac.uk\/melissa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/02\/402px-Flora_Stevenson-251x300.jpg\" alt=\"Flora Stevenson\" width=\"251\" height=\"300\" data-wp-editing=\"1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thinking.is.ed.ac.uk\/melissa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/02\/402px-Flora_Stevenson-251x300.jpg 251w, https:\/\/thinking.is.ed.ac.uk\/melissa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/02\/402px-Flora_Stevenson.jpg 402w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 251px) 100vw, 251px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4289\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Flora Stevenson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559683&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:0,&quot;335559731&quot;:0,&quot;335559737&quot;:0,&quot;335562764&quot;:2,&quot;335562765&quot;:0.9,&quot;335562766&quot;:4,&quot;335562767&quot;:10,&quot;335562768&quot;:4,&quot;335562769&quot;:0}\"><strong><span class=\"TextRun SCXP41839889 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-GB\" xml:lang=\"EN-GB\" data-usefontface=\"false\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXP41839889 BCX8\">FLORA (Feedback, Learning, Online Rubrics and Assessment)<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559683&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:0,&quot;335559731&quot;:0,&quot;335559737&quot;:0,&quot;335562764&quot;:2,&quot;335562765&quot;:0.9,&quot;335562766&quot;:4,&quot;335562767&quot;:10,&quot;335562768&quot;:4,&quot;335562769&quot;:0}\"><span data-usefontface=\"false\" data-contrast=\"none\">Ensuring staff and students have an appropriate platform for\u00a0Exams \/ Digital Exams<\/span>\u200b<\/p>\n<p data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559683&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:0,&quot;335559731&quot;:0,&quot;335559737&quot;:0,&quot;335562764&quot;:2,&quot;335562765&quot;:0.9,&quot;335562766&quot;:4,&quot;335562767&quot;:10,&quot;335562768&quot;:4,&quot;335562769&quot;:0}\"><span data-usefontface=\"false\" data-contrast=\"none\">Digital tools to support assessment done under exam conditions (with an open question about what\u00a0&#8216;exam\u00a0<\/span><span data-usefontface=\"false\" data-contrast=\"none\">conditions&#8217; mean in digital contexts \u2026 could be in-person computer lab, online, take-home \u2026 and\u00a0involve different\u00a0<\/span><span data-usefontface=\"false\" data-contrast=\"none\">types of restrictions to support academic integrity: locked browser, in-person\u00a0invigilated, online invigilated, open\u00a0<\/span><span data-usefontface=\"false\" data-contrast=\"none\">book, various levels of time restriction).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The reliability and security of digital exam platforms is essential for delivery of high stakes elements of students\u2019 experience at the University of Edinburgh. The current situation and digital estate add complexity, stress, burden, and confusion to the workload for both staff and students. It is not sustainable and carries several risks to university business of marking and assessment.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Analysis work done in the Autumn of 2023 looked deeper into exams, taking testimony from Teaching Office staff across all schools, to build a clearer understanding of what exam provision looks like across the institution.\u00a0 This included what role technology plays in exams, marking and exam boards.\u00a0 Gaining insight into what changes are anticipated in the use of technology to support exams, marking and exam boards.\u00a0 Plus looking to identify barriers to the wider adoption of online exams.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The analysis has shown that as an institution we do not fully understand how many \u2018digital exams\u2019 take place as there is no central collation of this data, but we do know that many different types of exams involve a digital element in their workflow e.g. scanning and marking.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">This project through its various work packages will look to better ensure staff and students have access to appropriate platforms for\u202fExams \/ Digital Exams.\u00a0 This will include the aim that exams are not taking place on the main virtual learning environment (Learn), but are on separate, robust platform(s) designed to support assessment done under exam conditions.\u00a0 The project will also examine the reasons behind institutional exam data being disjointed and present options for change.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559683&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:0,&quot;335559731&quot;:0,&quot;335559737&quot;:0,&quot;335562764&quot;:2,&quot;335562765&quot;:0.9,&quot;335562766&quot;:4,&quot;335562767&quot;:10,&quot;335562768&quot;:4,&quot;335562769&quot;:0}\"><strong>Why now?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-usefontface=\"true\" data-contrast=\"none\">The reliability\u00a0 of assessment platforms is essential for delivery of high stakes elements of students\u2019 experience at the university <\/span><span data-usefontface=\"true\" data-contrast=\"none\">of Edinburgh. The current situation and digital estate add complexity, stress, burden and confusion to the workload for both staff and\u00a0<\/span><span data-usefontface=\"true\" data-contrast=\"none\">students.\u00a0It is\u00a0not sustainable and carries\u00a0a number of\u00a0risks to university business of marking and assessment.<\/span>\u200b<\/li>\n<li data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-usefontface=\"true\" data-contrast=\"none\">A previous procurement failed, but we must try again, 5 years on,\u00a0 with better knowledge and more support from the digital estate strategy\u00a0<\/span><span data-usefontface=\"true\" data-contrast=\"none\">governance processes.\u00a0 The market (after covid) has changed and we think suppliers are more attuned to UK HE needs. <\/span>\u200b<\/li>\n<li data-aria-posinset=\"4\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-usefontface=\"true\" data-contrast=\"none\">The ISG teams who will lead this work have successfully delivered the VLE upgrade and are ready to revisit this area now. We want to\u00a0<\/span><span data-usefontface=\"true\" data-contrast=\"none\">provide good assessment platforms to the University in line with business needs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"TextRun SCXW215385476 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-GB\" xml:lang=\"EN-GB\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215385476 BCX8\">The project will have three elements<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215385476 BCX8\">.\u00a0 <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215385476 BCX8\">Institutional <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215385476 BCX8\">gap <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215385476 BCX8\">analysis to fully understand the current picture for assessment and exam workflows at the university<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215385476 BCX8\">.\u00a0 <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215385476 BCX8\">Once requirements have been <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215385476 BCX8\">established<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215385476 BCX8\"> the procurement of an exam system can <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215385476 BCX8\">commence<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215385476 BCX8\"> if necessary<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215385476 BCX8\">.\u00a0 <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215385476 BCX8\">Additionally, the project will examine, and if <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215385476 BCX8\">appropriate procure<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215385476 BCX8\"> a tool to support the marking process on digital, or digitised paper exams<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW215385476 BCX8\">.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"EOP SCXW215385476 BCX8\" data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span>\u200b<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559683&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:0,&quot;335559731&quot;:0,&quot;335559737&quot;:0,&quot;335562764&quot;:2,&quot;335562765&quot;:0.9,&quot;335562766&quot;:4,&quot;335562767&quot;:10,&quot;335562768&quot;:4,&quot;335562769&quot;:0}\"><span data-usefontface=\"true\" data-contrast=\"none\">The impact we expect on people is:\u00a0<\/span>\u200b<\/p>\n<ul style=\"font-weight: 400\">\n<li data-aria-posinset=\"5\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-usefontface=\"true\" data-contrast=\"none\">improving\u00a0the staff and student experience:\u00a0Staff will find the new services easier and quicker to use giving them back more time to do\u00a0<\/span><span data-usefontface=\"true\" data-contrast=\"none\">other things.\u00a0 Also, there should be opportunities to do more innovative assessment types where needed.<\/span>\u200b<\/li>\n<li data-aria-posinset=\"6\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-usefontface=\"true\" data-contrast=\"none\">For\u00a0students\u00a0their assessment experience will be better \u2013 with more consistency over platform usage, giving them the chance to become\u00a0<\/span><span data-usefontface=\"true\" data-contrast=\"none\">familiar with them.\u00a0 They should be easier to use and more reliable, reducing student stress.<\/span>\u200b<\/li>\n<li data-aria-posinset=\"7\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-usefontface=\"true\" data-contrast=\"none\">Closer\u00a0working relationships between ISG LTW with Exams Office and Timetabling unit timetabling information about exams\/types of exams\u00a0<\/span><span data-usefontface=\"true\" data-contrast=\"none\">to allow support requirements to be pinned down in advance of diet.\u00a0At the moment,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0hard to do this, so this would be better.<\/span>\u200b<\/li>\n<li data-aria-posinset=\"8\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-usefontface=\"false\" data-contrast=\"none\">Mitigate\u00a0risks\u00a0 around poor experience, poor support,\u00a0high stakes data on\u00a0random platforms.<\/span>\u200b<\/li>\n<li data-aria-posinset=\"9\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-usefontface=\"false\" data-contrast=\"none\">Easing the strain on availability of physical spaces for exams\/during exam periods.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The project team wanted the name of the project to be reflective of the work, memorable and to ensure ease of recognition when there are other large initiatives across the institution that may overlap with teams across the campus.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">FLORA was suggested for the pioneering history of the person Flora Stevenson (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Flora_Stevenson\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Flora Stevenson Wikipedia<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">) and also that it could fit much of the scope of the work we are looking to take forward.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Thank you to everyone working on starting our sister projects, LOUISA and FLORA\u00a0 for our focus on how our systems are used to support assessment. If you would like to know more about some inspirational women <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Louisa_Stevenson\">Louisa Stevenson &#8211; Wikipedia<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Flora_Stevenson\">Flora Stevenson &#8211; Wikipedia<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u200b<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FLORA (Feedback, Learning, Online Rubrics and Assessment) Ensuring staff and students have an appropriate platform for\u00a0Exams \/ Digital Exams\u200b Digital tools to support assessment done under exam conditions (with an open question about what\u00a0&#8216;exam\u00a0conditions&#8217; mean in digital contexts \u2026 could be in-person computer lab, online, take-home \u2026 and\u00a0involve different\u00a0types of restrictions to support academic integrity: &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,10],"tags":[477,470],"class_list":["post-4264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-learning-teaching-and-web-services","category-eople-place-work","tag-flora","tag-marking-and-assessment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinking.is.ed.ac.uk\/melissa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinking.is.ed.ac.uk\/melissa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinking.is.ed.ac.uk\/melissa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinking.is.ed.ac.uk\/melissa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinking.is.ed.ac.uk\/melissa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4264"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thinking.is.ed.ac.uk\/melissa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4303,"href":"https:\/\/thinking.is.ed.ac.uk\/melissa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4264\/revisions\/4303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinking.is.ed.ac.uk\/melissa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinking.is.ed.ac.uk\/melissa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinking.is.ed.ac.uk\/melissa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}